MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE

UNCLAS HARARE 000950 SIPDIS DEPT FOR AF/PDPA FOR DALTON, MITCHELL AND SIMS IRAQ PD FOR SMITH, PINESS AND ROOKARD NSC FOR JENDAYI FRAZER LONDON FOR GURNEY PARIS FOR NEARY NAIROBI FOR PFLAUMER E.O. 12958: N/A TAGS: PREL KPAO KMDR ZI SUBJECT: MEDIA REACTION IRAQ; HARARE ¶1. Under headline "Washington and London acting irresponsibly" the pro-government weekly the "Sunday Mirror" dedicated its May 18 editorial to calling on the United States and Britain "to move out of Iraq and let the Iraqis to handle their own affairs." Excerpts follow: ¶2. "Latest developments relating to the running of post-Saddam Iraq should give the world every reason to worry. . . While the suspension or total lifting of sanctions would be desirable, what is disturbing is the conditionality - that Iraqi oil riches be under U.S./UK control for a year - that the two countries are seeking to impose. That in itself sounds like an admission on the part of the two powers that they were not prepared for a purely Iraqi administration following the ouster of Saddam Hussein, a possibility that gives rise to the fear that the two could actually be intending to hold onto, and plunder, Iraq's oil. Of vital importance is for the U.S. and the UK to move out of Iraq and let the Iraqis handle their own affairs." WHITEHEAD